3 



\/l/7 




F 128 
.3 

.W75 
Copy 1 






^'■) 




FIRST CIT-i H\LL 



OIvD NEW YORK. 

By James Grant ^yILSON. 



ALTHOUGH the commercial metropo- 
lis of the western world had its ori- 
gin in the pursuit of commerce, there is 
about the early history of New York a 
certain romantic and picturesque interest 
not perhaps found in that of any other 
American cit3^ Boston was settled by 
the stern Puritan ; Philadelphia by the 
broad-brimmed Quaker ; Baltimore by the 
gay cavalier, but New York was cosmo- 
politan from the first. Stolid and deliberate 
Dutchmen, volatile .French Huguenots, 
witness-bearing Quakers and Anabap- 
tists, Swedes from the Delaware, Con- 
necticut Yankees, Maryland cavaliers, In- 
dians and African slaves formed the bulk 
of her population two centuries ago. Later 



came the Irish, Germans, Jews, Italians 
—almost all the nations, so that in more 
or less heterogeneous mass may be found 
within her borders representatives of 
scores of principalities and powers — 

" lu one strong race all races here nnite." 

Her government — too often it must be 
admitted no government — has been equal- 
ly varied and original in type. First, 
under that brief nondescript — Occidental 
in organization, Oriental in dreams — the 
Dutch West India company, her unhappy 
settlers lived under laws framed by a body 
of self-seeking merchants, administered 
by directors whose bigotry or ignorance 
or incapacity were so great as to lead us 




Tames Grant Wilson, the son of the late poet publisher Wilham Wilson, of 
Pou't'hkeepsie New York, after completing his studies travelled in Europe and 
vvastor a time associated with his father in business. He was among the many 
young cavalry officers who distinguished themselves in the civil war, and was a 
favorite with General Grant, with whom he seri'ed at Vicksburg and elsewhere. 
General Wilson, who was promoted in March 1S65, was for some time in command 
at Port Hudson, but during the same year resigned from the army, since which 
period he has resided in New York. He has written several books and contrib- 
uted many articles to magazines, and edited the Cyclopedia of Amencan Biog- 
raphy He is at present engaged on a history of New York from its farst settle- 
ment to the yeari892, and the illustrations that accompany the present article are 
taken from nearly 1000 which have been collected for use in that work. 



314 



OLD NEW YORK. 



to infer that they were chosen 
for their unfitness rather than 
for their fitness. After Eng- 
land captured the cit}-, in 1664, 
the qualit\' of the laws was 
improved, Init the navigation 
laws and port charges were 
intended to destroy, or at least 
restrict, her conuuerce, while 
most of the English governors 
were impoverished favorites 
whose exchequers must be im- 
proved at the expense of the 
people they governed, or sol- 
diers of fortune whose services 
on the field entitled them to 
fill their purses from the rev- 
enues of a province. Under 
the republic for a time her government 
was pure and honest ; to describe that of 
later years other adjectives must be used. 
Nevertheless her situation renders her 
peerless among American cities. On a 
long, low narrow island, Avashed on the 
west by the broad Hudson, on the east by 
the narrow estuary of the East river, with 
the unrivalled and beautiful bay before 
her, Providence seems to have intended 




GOVERNOR 




THE " STRAND."' 

New York for the port of the nation. Al- 
read}- she is aspiring after statehood, and 
her population approaches that of several 
of the smaller states combined. 

The discovery of her bay and site in 
1524 was accidental. 

The finding of a passage to India 
through or around newly discovered 
America was then as much the dream of 
bold navigators as is the discovery of the 
North pole to modern adventurers. The 
Florentine Jean Verrazano was on this 



quest when earl 5^ m 1524 "^-^x^^y'^-"' '■• 
he discovered the bay and 1 "'" 

was probabl}' the first European to enter 
and explore it. Nearly a centur}-, how- 
ever, elapsed before an attempt was made 
b}' an}' European nation to utilize its com- 
mercial advantages. This was at length 
done b}' Holland, then the foremost com- 
mercial power of Europe. Certain shrewd 
Amsterdam merchants in 1615 secured 
from the states general a char- 
ter for a trading company and 
the exclusive privilege of 
trading to New Netherlands 
for the space of three j'ears. 
Their object was trade, not 
settlement. They were suc- 
ceeded a few 3'ears later — 1621 
— by the "West India cora- 
pan}- ' ' — a private corporation 
with sovereign powers, and a 
monopoly of trade for Amer- 
ica, the Atlantic coasts of 
Africa and the isles between. 
It announced that it would at- 
tack Spaiai — then at war with 
Holland — in its American de- 
pendencies, but its real object was gain. 
A small trading post was established by 
this company on Manhattan island in 
1624, and in 1625 a larger body of emi- 
grants with cattle, seed and agricultural 
tools were sent out, and landing on Man- 
hattan island in May 1626 founded the 
city of New York under the name of New 
Amsterdam. They were in command of 
the first governor, Peter Minuit of Wesel 
in Westphalia, who a few weeks later ac- 
quired an honest title by purchase from 



9 



^ 



OLD NEW YORK. 



315 



i.' Fartnteuw y4mlier^'(>f7e^Manha^^'. Ci'S<S><f*^^J ^S^ ^*»*^~ ^ 




the tribe which then owned and occupied 
the island. When, in 1875, the writer 
asked the late Queen of the Netherlands 
if sixty guilders was not an exceedingly 
moderate consideration to give for Man- 
hattan island, being about one-tenth of a 
penny per acre, her majesty, unaware that 
the trifling amount was not paid to the 
Indians in gold or silver coin, promptly 
replied, making the following clever de- 
fence of the thrifty Dutchmen, " Well, if 
the savages had received a larger sum for 
their land they would simply have drank 
more firewater. With sixty florins they 
could not possibly purchase enough to in- 
toxicate each metnber of the tribe ! " 

The Dutch dynasty thus founded lasted 
until 1664, when England seized the prize 
she had long secretly coveted. During 
this period it was governed by the West 
India company through its directors. 
These latter had supreme power, ex- 
cept that their subjjects could appeal 
to the home company, and as a court 
of last resort to the states general. 
There was also a council of five ap- 
pointed by the director, which had 
advisory powers onl3\ The history 
of the city at this time is little more 
than a record of attempts of the peo- 
ple to gain power, of oppression of 
the Indians and retaliatory massacres 
on their part, of the gradual growth 
of a civilized community in the midst 
of the wilderness. The people gained 
a great victory when in April 1652 



the first city charter was granted, which 
was modelled after that of ancient Am- 
sterdam, and gave the people the right to 
elect two burgomasters and five schepens 
to assist the director in the government. 
The city then contained about 1500 in- 
habitants. Stuyvesant, the director, how- 
ever, did not permit the people to elect, 
but appointed the new officials. 

An English fleet, under command of 
Colonel Richard Nicolls, captured New 
Amsterdam in August 1664. Nicolls at 
once named the city New Yorl» in honor 
of his master, James the Duke of York, 
to wliom this same year the Dutch ter- 
ritories had been granted by his brother, 
Charles 11. 

Except for a brief period, from 1673 to 
1674, when the Dutch recaptured and held 
the citv, England governed New York 





THE FIRST STREET ON EAST RrVER. 



3i6 



OLD NEW YORK. 



^ 



^■O^ 



until the success of the revolution ended her power over 
the thirteen colonies. In many respects the city's con- 
dition was improved. Her growth was certainly much 
more rapid. She was ruled b}^ governors as before, but 
the people were given a voice in the government. They 
could elect a legislature to look after their interests in 
the province and a ma3or and common coimcil to repre- 
sent them in city affairs. A code of laws, much more 
liberal than Stuyvesant's, was framed, and trial by jury 
and a justice court for each town established. Instead 
of being the slave of a commercial monopoly, surrounded 
by provinces unfriendly to her. New York became one 
of several colonies, under the same general government, 
having the same language and common interests. 

Her history during this period contains elements of 
the romantic and picturesque that an able historical 
novelist might turn to account. Voyages to the Red sea 
and East Indies were 
made and brought 
great wealth to the 
city ; vessels of vari- 
ous kinds began to 
crowd her wharves. 
Snows, ketches, 
brigs and ships from 
Barbadoes and Cu- 
ra^oa, colonial ports 
and the mother 
country, were there 
discharging cargoes 
of manufactured 
products, sugar, mo- 
lasses and rum. The 
privateers too — 
swift, rakish craft 
called into being by 
the various wars — • 
were numerous . cornklius steenwyck, the first dutch 
Not a few of these, 
once on the high 
seas, turned their guns upon the craft of every nation 
and thus became pirates. Their favorite cruising ground 
was the Red sea and Indian ocean, where they capti:red 
and rifled the rich argosies from India and Arabia con- 
stantly traversing those waters, and either transferred 
their cargoes to their own holds or carried their prizes 
to a stronghold they had built in the island of Madagas- 
car, where the cargoes were taken and brought home by 
vessels despatched from New York for that purpose. 
The pirates were most numerous in the reign of Gov- 
ernor Benjamin Fletcher (1692-1698), who, indeed, was 
accused of harboring and protecting them. While their 
day lasted they lent an oriental air to the city. They 
spent money freely, they were fond of appearing in pub- 
lic clad in rich stuffs of the East that formed a striking 
contrast to their bronzed and bearded faces. The city's 
warehouses too, in those days, were burdened with rich 




MAYOR OF NEW YORK OF WHOM A POR- 
TRAIT IS EXTANT. 



OLD NEW YORK. 



1^1 



treasures of the East 
— silks and shawls 
from Persian looms, 
rare perfumes and 
costly ointments, 
while gems and jew- 
els of choicest work- 
manship in gold, sil- 
ver, pearl and ivory 
were worn by the 
merchants' wives 
and daughters. 

In the midst of 
this profusion and 
display there ap- 
peared in the harbor 
one day a vessel 
called the Adventure 
Galley, commanded 
by one Captain 
William Kidd, a 
shipmaster well 




known in the city, 
having been for many years in the Lon- 
don trade, who had been furnished by five 
English lords of Ligh degree with a ship, 
and commissioned by the king to go in 
search of and take pirates wherever he 
could find them. Kidd beat the town for 
recruits, sailed away to the Indian ocean 
with a large crew, turned pirate himself, 
and became among the most notoricuo of 
the guild. 

The English governors were fond of dis- 
play and of all the trappings of royalty. 
Their entries were attended with great 
state and ceremony. The city militia, 
drawn up in arms, and the mayor and 
common council were at the landing place 
to receive them as they disembarked. 
The company saluted the governor <■ ' with 



THE WHITE HALL, GOVERNOR STUYVES.\NT's CITY HOUSE. 



acclamation and firing," a procession was 
formed and marched to the fort, where the 
council chamber was thrown open and the 
governor's commission publicl}^ read, af- 
ter which the governor administered the 
oath, to his council. After this the pro- 
cession re-formed and marched to the City 
Hall, where the new governor was pub- 
licly proclaimed and his commission read 
to the people, which was received with 
"more firing and acclamation,." and the 
ceremonies concluded with a grand ban- 
quet in the evening. The birthdays of 
the royal family and anniversaries of 
great events in English histor}' were com- 
memorated by banquets, speech making, 
parades, the firing of cannon and illumi- 
nations. 




NEW YORK IN A.D. I704. 



3i8 



OLD NEW YORK. 




i^S; 



THE NEW NETHERLAND, THE FIRST SHIP BUILT IN 
NEW YORK. 

During Governor Fletcher's adminis- 
tration Trinity church, the pride of all 
good citizens of New York, one of our few 
churches of historic fame, was founded. 
Fletcher contributed largely toward build- 
ing the first church ediiice, which was 
opened for worship in 1696, giving, among 
other things, the revenues of the King's 




THE CANAL IN BROAD STREET. 



farm for a period of seven years. This 
first church was replaced by another in 
1737. It was destroj-ed in the great fire 
of 1776, which followed the evacuation of 
the cit}^ by the Americans ; was rebuilt 
in 1790 and this structure replaced in 1846 
by the present beautiful edifice which 
stands like a sentinel at the head of Wall 
street. 

Sy 1765 protests, fier}^ denunciations 
and threats of resistance heralded the ap- 
proach of the revolution. In that great 
struggle New York was not behind her 
sister towns, although several of them fill 
larger space in the annals of the conflict. 
Nowhere did the Stamp Act of 1765 en- 
counter greater opposition. The first 
Colonial congress at which resistance was 
hinted met in her City Hall in October 
of that year. On October 2Ty, while the 
congress was still in session, the ship 
Edwards arrived with the stamped paper 
in her hold. She was received with hisses, 
deriding cheers, menacing looks and ac- 
tions. The docks swarmed with people 
and the harbor shipping displayed flags at 
half mast, as if liberty were dead. That 
night men stole like shadows through the 
city streets, in spite of the rattle watch, 
and afiixed to trees and house fronts bill- 
boards and placards which warned any per- 
son who distributed or used the stamped 
paper to take care of his house, person and 
effects. The vSons of Liberty organized. 
The people held open-air meetings in what 
is now the City Hall park, at which fiery 
speeches were made and defiant resolu- 
tions passed. 

Sometimes, it is 
said, a pale young 
student from Colum- 
bia college named 
Alexander Hamilton 
climbed upon the ros- 
trum, and electrified 
the audience by his 
eloquence ; and again 
they listened to the 
persuasive oratory of 
John Jay, then a law 
student in the city. 
On the 31st of Octo- 
ber the Stamp Act 
was to go into effect. 
" The last day of lib- 
erty," the patriots 
called it, and they 



OLD NEW YORK. 



319 







ushered it m willi the tolhng of bells and 
with muffled drums beating the funeral 
march. The country people appeared in 
large numbei'S ; sailors came from their 
ships ; the citizens joined them, and all 
marched through the streets, threatening 
vengeance against any who should dare 
use or vend the obnoxious paper, and sing- 
ing patriotic songs in which the king, the 
governor, the troops and the Tories were 
mercilessh' lampooned, and the future of 
America glowingh' depicted. In the even- 
ing 200 merchants engaged in trade with 
England inet, and after patriotic speeches 
passed spirited resolutions to import no 
goods from England while the vStamp Act 
remained unrepealed, to countermand all 
orders for spring goods already sent, to 
sell no English goods on commission and 
to buy none from strangers that might be 
sent out. This preceded similar action on 
the part of Philadelphia merchants by 
fourteen days, and of Boston merchants 
by thirty-eight days. 

Boston has claimed the first blood shed 
in the revolution, 3-et it is in evidence 
that the distinction belongs to New York. 
On January 18, 1770, a collision between 
the troops and the citizens took place, fol- 
lowing the tearing down b}' the former of 
a liberty pole which the Sons of Liberty 
had raised in the commons abreast of the 
soldiers' barracks. The quarrel was re- 



tOLl Mlil\ LOI I LGt IN 1754 

newed the next da\ and ended m the de 
feat of the soldicrv In the melee a num 
ber of citi/cns \\ere \\<nindtd V sailor 
was thrust through with a bayonet and 
fell. A Quaker named Field, while stand- 
ing on his own doorstep, was cut on the 
cheek. Several others received bayonet 
thrusts. This antedated by nearly two 
months the famous Crispus Attucks af- 
fair in Boston. 

The Boston Tea party is one of the 
notable events of history. New York held 
hers some three months later. News of 
the passage of the Tea Act w^as received 
by the patriots of New York with the 
declaration ' ' that tea commissioners and 
stamp distributors were alike obnoxious," 




THE WATER GATE, WALL STREET. 



320 



OLD NEW YORK. 




NOVA HEI-GICA SIVE NIEUW KEDERLANDT. 



and they passed votes of thanks to mas- 
ters of ships wlio had refused to charter 
their vessels to transjjort cargoes of tea. 
When the first tea ship arrived (the Nan- 
c)-, Captain Lock3-er, reported off Sandy 
Hook April i8, 1774) the pilots refused to 
bring her any further than Sandy Hook, 
and b}- agreement a deputation from the 
Sons of Liberty boarded her there and 
secured her boats that the crew might 
not escape, and thus afford her captain a 
pretext for not carrying her and her 
cargo back to England. Captain Lockyer 
was also guarded by this committee, and 
permitted to visit his consignee and pro- 
cure stores, etc., for his return voyage, 
but was not allowed to visit the custom 
house to enter his vessel. In answer 
to the committee's demand Captain Lock- 
yer agreed to sail on his return on Sat- 
urday-, April 21. Placards were at once 
posted all over the city asking every 
friend of his country to attend a conven- 
ti«n of citizens to be held on the wharves 
on Saturda}' morning at nine o'clock, that 
the capfain might see with his own eyes 



"their detestation of the measures pur- 
sued b}' the ministr}^ and b\^ the East 
India company to enslave this countr}'." 
The bells were to give notice an hour 
before he embarked from Murray's wharf. 
At the hour of nine on the appointed morn- 
ing a committee waited on the captain at 
his lodgings in Wall street to escort him 
to the wharf, where a sloop had been 
moored to convey him to the Nancy. The 
street was already crowded with citizens, 
called together by sound of bell an hour 
before. The ceremony began by the com- 
mittee leading the captain to the balcony 
of the coffee house where he lodged, that 
he might look upon the people and they 
on him. His appearance was the signal 
for shouts from the multitude, and a band 
struck up " God Save the King." Then 
the committee and the captain took their 
places at the head, and the procession of 
citizens, to the sound of martial music, 
passed down Wall street to the dock. 
There captain and committee went on 
board the sloop, and were conveyed to the 
Nancy (which during this time had been 



OLD NEW YORK. 



321 



riding at anclior in the lower baA"), ever}- 
bell in the cit}' save two — the official bell 
on the City Hall and that of Columbia 
college — ringing triumphant peals, the 
shipping showing their ga^^est bunting 
and the liberty pole on the common ga^' 
with flags, while artiller}- at its foot accen- 
tuated the victory of the people. 

Before the Nancy could sail, however, 
another tea ship, the London, Captain 
Chambers, arrived. The latter positively- 
denied that he had tea on board, and as his 
manifests revealed none he was permitted 
to come up to the Q.\\.y. The committee, 
however, had received word from the Phila- 
delphia committee that tea was on board, 
and a delegation boarded the vessel at her 
dock, and told the captain they were pre- 
pared to open every package in his hold 
in order to satisf\' themselves that his 
manifest was correct, whereitpon the cap- 
tain confessed that he had eighteen chests 
on board. The committee retired to de- 
liberate. That night, about eight o'clock, 
a band of Mohawks visited the ship, 
hoisted up the cases of tea, broke them 
open, and after empt5dng their contents 
into the river dispersed without injuring 
the ship or interfering with the rest of the 
cargo. 

New York's part in the revolution has 
been so fully detailed that it seems imnec- 
essary to dwell upon it here. The citj's 
great distinction and chief claim to the 
regard of patriotic Americans is that here 
the great instrument which made us a 
nation, the compact between the states, 
the Constitution of 1787, was conceived, 
discussed, formulated, and in spite of jeal- 
ousies, individual, municipal, state and 





THE FIRST CHURCH AND GOVERNOR'S HOUSE. 
21 



THE FIRST BRICK HOUSE IN THE CITY. 

sectional, and of the intrigues of land 
syndicates, speculators and disunionists, 
adopted ; that here the first president was 
inaugurated and the republican court in- 
vStitxited. 

Since that day the growth of the city 
has been continuous and unchecked, de- 
spite the evil of occasional corrupt gov- 
ernment administered for its own in- 
terests by a great political organization 
which derives its power from the dregs of 
the cit3-'s population. This remarkable 
growth has at times been greatly accel- 
erated by opportunities which her mer- 
chants were quick to grasp, or by the ac- 
complishment of the designs of sagacious 
and far-seeing statesmen and capitalists. 
Among the former were the opening of 
the China tea ports to trade and the dis- 
covery of gold in California. Among the 
latter the invention and development of 
the steamboat, the canal and the railroad 
as common carriers. Fulton's first suc- 
cessful steamboat, the little Clermont, 
pushed her wa}' up the Hudson on her 
first voyage in 1807, pioneer of vast fleets 
of similar craft. The Erie canal, how- 
ever, up to a comparatively recent date was 
the city's chief feeder and the principal 
factor in her remarkable growth, ^he 
success of steamboats on the Hudson prob- 
ably first turned men's thoughts to the 



322 



OLD NEW YORK. 



project of a waterway from Buffalo to Al- 
bany which should connect the great lakes 

with tidewater and give to New York the 

commerce of the West. On July 4, 1817. 

ground was first broken for the canal at 

Rome, midway between the two termi- 
nal cities. B_v 1S25 the entire canal was 

completed and great preparations were 

made for appropriately celebrating its 

opening. This event was quite unique 

and poetic in character. 

At intervals of eight or ten miles along 

its route cannon were placed, and also 

along the banks of the Hudson to New 

York. At ten o'clock on October 26, 1825, 

water was let into the canal at Buffalo 
and a pioneer fleet of canal boats started 
on their journev to the metropolis. Their 
departure was announced in New York by 
the relay's of cannon at 11. 21 a.m., one 
hour and twenty-one minutes from Buf- 
falo. One minute later Fort Lafayette 
began the return fire, which reached Buf- , . . 

falo at 12.50 P.M., having made the circuit boarded the leading boat, and an alder- 
in less than three hours.' The boats passed man welcomed the visitors to the city. 
across the state, and were received at Some hours later a long procession of 
every important town with salvos of ar- shipping was arranged and moved down 
tillery and the acclamations of the people, the river and bay amid salutes of cannon 
They reached New York on the morning to the Narrows, where Governor Clinton, 
of November 4, where great preparations standing on the bow of the foremost boat, 
had been made to receive them. The cor- held aloft a keg of lake water which had 
poration steamer Washington, with a com- been brought from Buffalo, and poured its 
mittee of the common council on board, contents into the ocean, declaring that 




THE DAMEN FARMHOUSE, NOW THE SITE OF THE EQUl 
BUILDING. 

was the reply, whereupon the committee 



hailed them, and asked, " Where are you 
from, and whither bound?" "From 
Lake Erie, and bound to Sandy Hook," 




THE FIRST MAP OF THE CITY. 



the act was intended to indicate and com- 
memorate the wedding of the mediter- 
ranean seas with the Atlantic ocean. 

The canal would have been a greater 
factor in the city's growth but for the 
development of the American railroad. 
For some years its chief office has been 
to keep freight tariffs low from fearof 
its competition. And yet the first rail- 
road in New York was not opened for 
traffic until 183 1. The Erie railroad, 
the first great trunk line, was opened 
in 1854 as a through line between the 
great lakes and New York. The city's 
maritime growth kept pace with and 
was in part the result of the develop- 
ment of the inland trade. It stirs one's 
pulses even now to hear veterans tell of 
the maritime victories of 1 8 1 6-1 850. The 
needs of transatlantic traffic in the ab- 
sence of steam caused the establish- 
ment of lines of swift packets that very 
soon drove the clumsy old merchantmen 
out of the passenger carrying business. 



OLD NEW YORK. 



323 



The first of these was the Black Ball line, 
founded in 1816, with four, and later twelve 
packets, sailing regularly on the first of 
every month. This proved so successful 
that in 182 1 the Red Star line was estab- 
lished, also sailing to lyiverpool, which 
caused the Black Ball line to add four new 
ships to its fleet, and despatch a vessel 
twice a month — on the first and sixteenth. 
The graceful and swift-sailing clippers 
succeeded the packets, driving the latter 
from the ocean as passenger ships, as the 
packets had the merchantmen. The clip- 
per vShips originated in Baltimore, and 
were first built to meet the demands of the 
China trade, in which speed was preferred 
to capacity, the tea deteriorating greatly 
in quality b}' a long sea voyage. 

The discovery of gold in California in 
1849 added greatl}' to the clipper service, 
since return freight as far as San Fran- 
cisco, half the distance to China, could be 
secured. As California freight was bulky 
.in character the capacity of the clippers 
constructed for this service was greatly 
enlarged, some of them, such as the 
Challenge and the Invincible, averaging 
2000 tons. They made some remarkable 
vo3-ages* For instance, the Surprise, be- 
longing to A. A. Low & Brother of this 
city, made the vo3-age to San Francisco in 
ninety-six da3-s, carrying iSoo tons of 
cargo and making on one day a run of 
284 miles. The Honqua, another clipper, 
made the run from Shanghai to New 
York in 185 1 in eighty-eight days, the 
shortest voyage that had ever been made, 



and on a return trip sailed 328 miles in 
one day. But steam and the war together 
drove these beautiful sea couriers from 
the ocean. 

New York is today completing her third 
century of existence. She is the centre 
of great and diverse interests, a republic 
•in herself The population massed within 
her narrow boundaries exceeds that of 
many a large state. Nearly all the trades 
and processes known to civilization are 
carried on within her limits. She is the 
financial centre of the Union. Her great 
publishing interests have made her the 
largest literary mart of the continent and 
among the largest in the world. Her 
wealth and population are increasing as 
never before. In 1626 the whole island, as 
already stated, was purchased for twent}-- 
four dollars ! In 1890 land for residence 
purposes on the Fifth avenue was sold at 
the rate of twenty-seven dollars per square 
inch !• and her real estate was assessed at 
11,398,290,007. In 1890 the duties collect- 
ed on her imports amounted to 1153,900,- 
052. During the same period more than 
5000 vessels, with a gross tonnage of 6,- 
258, 222 tons, entered the port. Her foreign 
exports for the same period amounted to 
$389,289,482 and her imports to $562,73=5,- 
987. 

The metropolis has committed many 
mistakes, and is confronted by some 
problems. These her best citizens believe 
the future will solve, and in a manner 
conducive to her continued prosperity, 
usefulness and glor3\ 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




DUMPTY. 

Adam Bede." 

WHAT shall we have for the next club?" 
That is what the committee alwa3-s said 
at its first meeting. You see, the club met every 
other Saturday evening through the winter, and some sort of entertainment, either 
of sense or nonsense, had to be provided by a committee in charge. These unfortu- 
nate persons paid a lieavj- penalty of work and worry for their two weeks' importance, 
and then, to reward them for their labor, they were allowed the privilege of naming 
their successors ; and it was really a great satisfaction when the fun was over, and 
the supper was about ready, to clap hands, bring silence out of the livelv talk that 
always springs iip when nothing else, is going on, and then by a few woras consign 
four happy, careless members to the misery of inventing something new and getting 
it up for the next club in the short time of two busj^ weeks. 

Some members are wicked enough to try to dodge their plain duty when their names 
are read out on the committee for the next meeting ; they saj^ they are going to 
Washington or something equally irrelevant. The thing to do with such perfidious 
ones is to talk to them beforehand, and invite them to a sleighing part}^ or to a 
dinner for the Friday before the next Saturday evening meeting ; and then if they 

accept and say nothing about Washing- 
ton, put them on the committee. Other 
members have the bad habit of allowing 
their names to be put on the committee, 
and at its first private meeting insisting 
that they are too busy to do anything 
bi^t pull up the curtain when the enter- 
tainment is given, and the committee 
generally makes such backsliders do er- 
rands in town, go to the costumers and 
wig-makers and carry many bundles back 
and forth. 

It was my unhappy fate to be named 
on a committee some time ago, along 
with Miss Wheigh, Miss Howman and 
INIr. Barker. None of us being imagina- 
tive in the waj' of excuses, we simply 
accepted the appointment, said we would 
do what we could, and lost our appetites 
MERELY ii.\KKEL Hooj's. fot supper. Bcfore going home that 




